Q&A, Sen. Johnson: Time for Republicans to end shutdown

Oct. 13, 2013

Tim Johnson

Written by

With the federal government shutdown entering its third week and a new crisis over the government’s debt ceiling looming, Sen. Tim Johnson insisted that Republicans should give in to resolve the crisis.

In an interview with the Argus Leader, Johnson said the shutdown was caused by “tea party Republicans” with an agenda he calls radical. He said Democrats already have compromised on government spending.

Instead, Johnson said Republicans should pass a government funding billwithout any attached demands such as further spending cuts or delays in the Affordable Care Act health care law.

Below is an abridged transcript of Johnson’s Thursday interview:

QUESTION: Where do things stand with the shutdown right now?

ANSWER: Speaker (John) Boehner could end the tea party government shutdown right now if he brought a clean continuing resolution to the House floor for a vote. President Obama and Senate Democrats are united to open the government with a clean continuing resolution. Senate Democrats have made a significant compromise by passing a clean funding bill at spending levels that are closely in line with the House-passed Ryan budget.

If Senate Democrats and the president cave to Republican demands, it will create a dangerous precedent for our democracy, opening the door for any small minority to grind government to a halt whenever they don’t get their way.

Q: How long do you think the shutdown will last? What are the prospects for a swift resolution?

A: At least until the debt ceiling is coming up for a vote. I hope it’s not past the debt ceiling vote ... coming up (Thursday).

Q: What are the chances of a long shutdown, stretching for weeks?

A: It has always gone on too long. Unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to last until we reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling. Speaker Boehner does not seem to have any game plan to end the shutdown. We’d gladly sit down and negotiate a way to improve health care and rein in our debt, but this cannot occur until the House Republicans agree to end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling.

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Q: Senate Democrats have rejected most of the piecemeal funding bills that the House has passed. Why not vote to fund as much of the government as possible?

A: The House’s current approach is nothing more than theatrics. Cherry-picking agencies is not the way to end the shutdown. We cannot open parts of the government based on the agencies that are getting headlines. We need to open all of the federal government. The House should pass the Senate’s clean CR so we can turn our attention to the real issues of negotiating a long-term spending bill that will fund the government for the remainder of fiscal year 2014.

Q: Congressional Republicans have said they’re looking to compromise on government funding and the debt limit and have called for negotiations that Democrats have rejected. Why do you feel Democrats are taking the right approach here?

A: We’ve already negotiated by cutting $70 billion to the sequester level. In turn, we want a clean CR.

Q: Some critics have accused the administration of managing the shutdown so as to exaggerate the impact on people. How do you feel about how the executive branch has responded to the shutdown?

A: Everybody knew what the consequences of the shutdown would be. If we don’t do it this way, the administration, whatever the party, whatever the president, will be subject to ... One faction of one party of one house can cause the shutdown if the administration so chooses to go that way.

Q: Many citizens have expressed frustration with both parties during the shutdown. Do you think congressional Democrats bear part of the blame for the stalemate?

A: The tea party Republicans are to blame for the government shutdown. Shutting down the federal government to delay Obamacare is a strategy of Speaker Boehner, tea party Republicans and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. The Republicans own the government shutdown and the mess it’s created in South Dakota and across the country. The rest of the Republicans in the House, especially, fear a primary unless they follow the political extremist tea party with their radical agenda.

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Q: This is just the most serious in a series of high-stakes political crises over the past several years in Washington, D.C. Is this the new normal that citizens should expect?

A: I don’t think so. I hope not. That is one reason that the administration is standing tall, for the fear that if they give in, it will amount to a new normal.

Q: Do you think that what we’re seeing now in Washington is a reflection of the divided country? That Americans are ... polarized between two different visions of the proper role of government?

A: I don’t know what it is. It’s surely a rocky time for the government. Our Founding Fathers created a variety of avenues for elected officials to assert their opposition to a law, but holding the government hostage is not one of them. I hope when the current impasse of the government shutdown and the debt ceiling ends, that the Republican tea party crowd will have learned a valuable lesson and we can return to regular order to govern the country.